triviayogi

August 24, 2008

The Pune round of Tata Crucible Corporate Edition 2008 just concluded at the Taj Blue Diamond. Pune, lived up to it's history of being a quizzers city, from the huge audience turnout that comprised of a mix of ever so enthusiastic college quizzers to the 120 odd teams from the corporate circle to the inquisitive set of people - age no bar.

For the patient reader there's some more to follow and for those interested only in the results here they go.

Winners - TAL Manufacturing SolutionsRunners Up - TCS (prolly the first all women duo to be in the finals of Crucible history)

The huge audience turnout was certainly daunting and it provided enough pointers towards a tough set of prelims questions. As expected, the prelims were a tad tougher primarily due to the less number of clues provided by Giri.

1. Which sports goods company owns the range of products under the name Ballistic, Stealth, Atomic and Velocity?

2. What is brewed at six locations across India namely Mount Shivalik in Rajasthan, Impala Breweries in Goa, Mikal in Orissa, Iceberg in Bihar, SOM in Madhya Pradesh and Manav Breweries in UP?

3. Who sponsored the FairPlay award at this years IPL?

4. Which brand owned by N Ranga Rao and Sons was amidst a controversy for it's similarity to the logo of a prominent political party?

5. This company then (in 1852) was known as the Volcanic Repeating Arms Co. It started to produce a lever action pistol nicknamed the Volcanic Pistol (named by Scientific American because of the pistols incredible firepower and its rapid-fire capability). In 1986 it was sold to Tomkins plc of London England and subsequently in 2001 it was acquired by Saf-T-Hammer Corporation. This company was in news recently for the interest Indian Army showed.

6. Name this joint venture formed between Airtel and IFFCO aimed at providing a major boost to the Indian Agriculture sector

7. Who has been selected as a brand ambassador for Fly phones by Meridian Mobile. As mentioned by the company the person (male) reflects the brands chs of being a go-getter and aggressive

9. By what name are the chain of specialty stores focused on selling health and beauty products launched by Dabur know as?

10. Which company (into the beverages industry speaking on a macro level) has ventured into the hospitality sector by launching The Serai, a hotel and a spa. This move demonstrates a new kind of busines concpet that the company has tapped into considering it's land bank.

11. Which company has recently launched its clothing line Probase. It also has two other brands in it's portfolio titled Genesis and Basis. (the name of the co. will remind you of a toys co.)

12. This print syndicate launched DailyINK, an online service which bills subscribers $15 annually. DailyINK makes available, on a web page and via email, more than 70 vintage and current comic strips, plus editorial cartoons. Name this company?

13. This entertainment company derives its name from a famous landmark in Vancouver. It is famous for producing the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, which became the studio's highest grossing film.

14. Which company in India produces the Nightingale brand of diaries? (_____ Fine Arts)

15. TIME in 1952 described this as 'a short lived, satirical pulp'. What?

16. Which novelist and poet is featured on the bank notes issued by the Bank of Scotland?

17. This publishing house, part of the Random House is known for its 'Borzoi' trademark. Name it

18. Yahoo India recently launched a new concept in online search which collates and integrates the most relevant information from across the web onto a single visual search results page. Name the concept.

19. It was first mentioned by Mark Twain in 1872 in his novel 'Roughing It'. There was also an attempt to trademark it by a magazine known by the same name. However it was not allowed to do so. What is being referred to here?

20. Terrapin, is the children's imprint of _______ It has published six books, in association with JSW, to make children aware on climate change and the nature around them. Fill in the blank

24. Video SBI Ad (two old ladies traveling all the distance to wish their their old brother on his birthday. An ad highlighting the importance of relationships)

25. Video Camlin Marker (the famous ad depicting mourning in process and the village women trying to wipe off the bindi from the forehead of the "widow")

Cutoffs were not declared but prolly hovered around 12-13 as mentioned indirectly by Giri. The surprising fact was the top scorers were from internal Tata Track rounds. In the internal track six teams on stage were Tata AutoComp Systems Ltd, Computational Research Labs (for the first time), TERI (all the way from Mumbai), Tata Motors, TAL Mfg Solns and TCS (Mumbai team).

The usual set of rounds for the internal track with a couple of inane blunders from some teams. TAL emerged as a decisive winner and their perseverance of two time regional finalists payed off. TCS duo finished as runners up

The non Tata track witnessed intelligent quizzing with Kotak Mahindra team and Infosys cracking some hard to connect laterals. They were followed closely by the IBM team of Rohit Jain (TC Campus Edition Winner 2007) and Nikhil Lasardo. BMC software however managed to edge out Infosys to become the runners up.

Good Luck to the participants in upcoming rounds of Tata Crucible. Last but not the least three cheers to Giri and his team for hosting a wonderful quiz and Giri for his flawless timing and wit.

August 13, 2008

Q1. The origins of this company can be traced back to the northern seaside town of Blackpool in the early 1920s. It was here that a young motorcycle enthusiast, Bill Lyons met William Walmsley. Together they founded the Swallow Sidecar Co. on 04th Sep 1922. Lyons pursued his ambition to build cars and at the 1931 London Motor Show, Swallow Sidecar Co. revealed their first model the S.S.1 coupe. By the end of 1934 the company was producing about 1800 cars a year and S.S. Cars Ltd had been established as a public company.

It was towards the end of WW II in 1945, that Lyons was the first to recognize that the SS initials had become tarnished by their identification with the Schutzstaffel in Nazi Germany – “A sector of the community which was not highly regarded”. He then changed it to its presently known name as we know.

Name this company which is a luxury marquee brand and which was in the news recently

Jaguar

Q2. Nils Bohlin’s automotive invention – the three-point seat belt – is credited with saving millions of lives worldwide. It first appeared in 1959 on a vehicle by which automaker?

Volvo. Nils Bohlin of Sweden invented the three point seat belt for Volvo, who introduced it in 1959 as standard equipment. Bohlin was granted US Patent 3,043,625 for the device.

Q3. This company was “born from jets”. In 1937, an aircraft company called Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (Swedish Aeroplane Limited) was created to meet the needs of the Swedish Airforce. When WW II ended the airplane company started making cars to diversify its business

In 1947, the _____ Automobile Company was incorporated. The company’s first car was the _____ 92, named because it was simply the company’s 92nd design project (the previous 91 had all been aircraft). In 2000 this company was bought out by General Motors.

Name the company

SAAB

Q4. This company began its life in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co. in Hiroshima, Japan. At the time, there was a cork shortage because of World War I, so the company was founded to process a cork substitute made from the bark of an Abemaki or Chinese cork oak tree. It was a good idea at the time, but shortly afterwards Japan could get real cork again and the company foundered.In 1927, Jujiro Matsuda came onboard and the company began manufacturing tools, three-wheeled "trucks" and then cars. After World War II, the company formally adopted its present name, which depending on who you ask, stood for the Zoroastrian god Ahura _____ or an anglicized pronunciation of Matsuda the founder’s name (or both).In the 1936 the logo was inspired by the emblem of Hiroshima city. The 1991 and 1992 logos symbolized a wing, the Sun and a circle of light. The company’s current logo, nicknamed the "owl" logo, was designed by Rei Yoshimara in 1997. The stylized version was meant to look like stretched wings, but many people saw a stylized tulip instead.

Name the company

Mazda

Q5. Identify this and it's purpose

Fuwa literally "good luck dolls" are the mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The design was created by Han Meilin, a famous Chinese artist.

The Fuwa consists of five members according to the traditional five elements: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini. Each of the five names is designed to look like a plausible name for a small child, but when put together, they sound nearly identical to the phrase “北京欢迎你” which means “Beijing welcomes you”. Each of the five figures also represents one of the five Olympic Rings. Two of the five mascots represent members of endangered species.

March 29, 2007

Q1. This brand, well know in the UK, was formed in 1986 by merging two popular clothing brands Moustache – men’s and Emanuelle – women’s; two kisses (symbolically) were added to give it the name we know today. The company was founded in 1970 by an Indian entrepreneur Ratan Chaddha who later sold it to an U.S. apparel Company, Liz Claiborne Inc.

Google. When Google was a Stanford research project, it was nicknamed BackRub because the technology checks backlinks to determine a site's importance.

Q3. It was created in 2006 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis codenamed “ The Venice Project”. Currently in its beta version it is based on a P2P TV technology and is all set to revolutionize the way we watch TV. What is being referred to here?

Joost (pronounced 'juiced') is an interactive software for distributing TV shows and other forms of video over the Web using peer-to-peer TV technology, created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis (founders of Skype and Kazaa).

Q4. ConnectIQ.

Smart (formerly MicroCompactCar smart) is a brand of microcars and superminis based in Böblingen, Germany. The name of the company, part of DaimlerChrysler, was changed from Micro Compact Car GmbH to Smart GmbH in September 2002. It is marketed as the "smart" in all lower case, as seen in its logo. The current smart brand logo denotes a C for "Compact" and an arrow for "forward thinking".

The project idea was originally supported by Swiss watch manufacturer Swatch (Nicolas Hayek the CEO of Swatch), and was nicknamed the "Swatchmobile". The name SMART is an acronym for Swatch Mercedes ART

a member of the 1st squadron of the 9th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army

a member of Alpha Company, 980th Engineer Battalion United States Army Reserve

a baseball pitcher who throws beanballs (a colloquial sports term for a ball thrown at an opposing player with the intention of striking him such as to cause harm, often connoting a throw at the player's head)

and a jargon in the HR terminology.

Headhunter

Q7. This experiment is very well known in total quality management. It was designed by a famous quality guru and is used as a tool to show managers several lessons in management and sampling. Which experiment.

Deming’s famous Red Bead Experiment. The tool helps illustrate that managers can often tamper rather than manage when they act without understanding the systems they manage. The tool can be used to help managers see that they may make silly demands of the people in their organizations. This has often helped open managers minds to why they should learn about the Deming's management theories. Short Video

Q8. Joseph Cyril Bamford was one of Britain’s finest innovators. He started his business in 1945 manufacturing a tipping trailer (see image) with a £1 welding set (see image) in a lock-up garage he rented in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. Later he sold the trailer at the local market for £45. In 1948 his company made the first hydraulic tipping trailer in Europe and later the first backhoe excavator was introduced. Today the company is one of the most respected names in its business and rightly sports its slogan “A Product of Hard Work”.

January 27, 2007

Apologies for the delay in posting the TY series. I have been pre-occupied with some work on the personal front so still a few days to go before I resume posting the T Y series till then here is an OBQ

He has the distinction of penning down the most profitable advertisement of all times, also called the "billion dollar mail"- for its 25 years in circulation this direct mail has bought in nearly a billion dollars through subscriptions for this newspaper. Here is an extract from the mail.

Name this adguru and the advertiser for whom he wrote this mail.

Dear Reader:

On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young men. Both had been better than average students, both were personable and both—as young college graduates are—were filled with ambitious dreams for the future.

Recently, these men returned to their college for their 25th reunion.

They were still very much alike. Both were happily married. Both had three children. And both, it turned out, had gone to work for the same Midwestern manufacturing company after graduation, and were still there.

But there was a difference. One of the men was manager of a small department of that company. The other was its president.

The adguru is Late Martin Conroy and the advertiser is The Wall Street Journal. Read the letter here and some more info here

December 01, 2006

Q2. He appeared on Steve Allen's television show "I've Got a Secret" in 1965. His secret? The piano music that he played on the show was composed by a computer of his own design. In 1974, he founded a company where he introduced the Reading Machine, a novel device that combined three inventions: the first charge coupled device (C.C.D.) flatbed scanner, the first optical character recognition (O.C.R.) software, and the first, full text-to-speech synthesizer. His Reading Machine was able to detect and correct errors as well as audibly pronounce words. The commercial version of the O.C.R. software was used by Lexis-Nexis to create its vast online databases of news and legal information. In 1978, he sold his O.C.R. business to Xerox.

Identify this genius who created hardware and software to help blind people read and musicians make music.

Ray Kurzweil

Q3. Back2Back.

Identify the logo's. Prominent Indian Companies

i.) KPIT Cummins Infosystems

ii) Praj Industries

Q4. While an undergraduate at YaleUniversity in 1965, he wrote an economics paper observing that as society became more automated, computer companies would need to insure that their products were dependable. Computers couldn't make business cheaper, faster, and more accurate unless they could be fixed rapidly. Their manufacturers would need a nimble logistics and delivery system to keep their customers happy. He realized that a hub-and-spoke network could create an enormous number of connections more efficiently than a point-to-point delivery system. The delivery system he conceived used both airplanes and trucks, which was unheard of at the time. He first tested the initial 25-city network, flying empty boxes across the country, and then went live on April 17, 1973.

Name the founder and the company.

Fredrick W.Smith - FedEx

Q5. ConnectIQ

This is an interesting connect, remember this is i – Bizz: - )

Lewis Tappan created the first viable credit reporting service in America with a network of correspondents under the Tappan’s Mercantile Agency to offer up-to-date and comprehensive credit information about people in their communities. Tappan transferred the running of the agency to his chief clerk, Benjamin Douglass, in 1849. By 1851, 2000 full-time correspondents were reporting from across the nation. Douglass then transferred the company to his brother-in-law, Robert Graham Dun, in 1858, and in 1933 R.G. Dun & Company merged with its main rival, Bradstreet, forming Dun & Bradstreet, the largest credit reporting entity in the world.

Tappan's credit information business enlisted local correspondents including a young Illinois lawyer, Abraham Lincoln, a midwestern storekeeper, Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland and William McKinley. All of whom went on to become Presidents of USA

Q6. Opening page of which website (it's not a company's website but for a thing that is inspired from this (in)famous company of recent times).

Here is what's written in the box (Pic1) "Security Alert - You are attempting to browse the belongings of _______ Inc."

Enron The Musical check out www.enronmovie.com

Q7. What's the Connect

Aurora Borealis - Crystal Transmission - Volcano - Aurum - Dorado

Swarovski

In order to create a crystal that allows light to refract in a rainbow spectrum, Swarovski coats some of its crystals with special metallic chemical coatings. Aurora Borealis, or "AB", is one of the most popular coatings, and gives the surface a rainbow oil slick appearance. Other coatings include Crystal Transmission, Volcano, Aurum, and Dorado. Coatings are applied to 50% of an object, however some are coated two times, and thus are designated AB 2X, Dorado 2X etc

Q8. Which brand would come next in this series

Head (http://www.head.com/)

Q9. Print Ad for which product (Think Beverages)

Diet Pepsi

Q10. Identify him (clue in the pic)

Joseph C. Wilson, he reinvented "The Haloid Company" manufacturing photographic paper and equipment as Xerox in 1906. The company came to prominence in 1959 with the introduction of the first plain paper photocopier using the process of xerography (electrophotography) developed by Chester Carlson, the Xerox 914 which is shown here in the pic.

November 09, 2006

Q1. ConnectIQ.What's the connect here? Well apart from the fact that both are well known faces in the fashion world :D

Connect is Reality TV Series having a common theme - Fashion Design.

Project Runaway (2004) is the American reality television series hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum aired on Bravo TV, and judged by a panel that usually includes Klum, American designer Michael Kors, ELLE magazine fashion director Nina Garcia, and a fourth judge - typically a fashion designer, critic or model, a celebrity or a professional from a related industry.

Project Catwalk (2006) is the British version of this reality TV series which is hosted by Elizabeth 'Liz' Hurley and aired on Sky ONE. It is judged by a panel that includes designer Julian MacDonald and ELLE magazine Editor-in-Chief Lorraine Candy and a thrid judge - typically a fashion designer, fashion model or celebrity from the fashion industry.

Q2. LogoSquare. Identify the logos

i)Sula Vineyards (Sula Wines)

ii)Future Group - Kishore Biyani’s Pantaloon Retail India is a Future Group venture.

iii) ElizabethHurleyBeach – A clothing company created by Elizabeth Hurley. EH is an international luxury lifestyle brand featuring beach wear collection designed by Liz

iv) Dassault Aviation

Q3. Identify this famous investor, Forbes named him as the #1 venture capitalist in the year 2004. His notable investments include Tivoli Systems (acquired by IBM), Forte Software (acquired by Sun Microsystems), Kiva Software (acquired by Netscape), Information Advantage (acquired by Sterling Software), Arbortext (acquired by PTC), Resonext Communications (acquired by RF Micro Devices), Showcase (acquired by SPSS) and Zettacom (acquired by IDT)

Promod Haque of Norwest Venture Partners.

Q4. One of their first products was Auréole an innovative hair colour formula invented by its founder. Later the founder registered the company as Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux (Safe Hair Dye Company of France). Michael Bar-Zohar's Bitter Scent revolves around the company's involvement in the pits of Nazi ideology during World War II.

Identify this company.

L’Oreal. Eugene Schueller founded L'Oreal

Q5. ConnectIQ. What's the connect?

Sodexho - A French multinational corporation and one of the largest foodservice companies in the world

Show in the picture is its founder Pierre Bellon, the SodexhoPASS Meal Voucher and Gift Voucher

Q6. Whose print ad is this?

The Economist

Q7. In the 18th century Julius Johannes, a qualified miller noticed that several women factory workers ended up getting reduced time for housework and preparation of meals, working class families suffered from poor nutrtion. In view of this state of affairs Julius decided to produce appliances for roasting and grinding dried vegetables (peas and beans) given their rich nutritive value, to make flour thus enabling housewives to make a quick nourishing soup.

Eventually, he put his instant product - vegetable powders - on the market. Julius distinguished his products by a four branched star, with a cross in its heart. The Cross-Star trademark was registered. Today we know this brand by a different category of product than the one it started with.

Identify the brand

Maggi (the 2 minute noodles brand now under Nestle)

Q8. The picture on the left shows an artist probably painting the 24th copy of one of his most famous creations (well it's known that he created 24 copies of his original work).The picture on the right shows the US Trademark Registration No 34690 granted on July 10, 1900 to this artist's creation. A seemingly innocuous request from a person led to the disappearance of his work as a label trademark. Today we know it as one of the most well recognised images till date.

Which trademark? Enough clues in the picture :-)

His Master's Voice (HMV). Nipper a little fox terrier sits inquisitively listening to his master's voice coming from the horn. the famous painting is one of the world's most recognized and best loved trademarks. Francis Barraud painted HMV. Emile Berliner (the German-born and Washington-based inventor of the flat disc record and the gramophone) sought a trademark for it which was granted by the patent office on July 10, 1900. Pic1 Pic2

Q9. Tuvalu is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean with a total area of just 26 sqkm and is the second-least populated independent country in the world. The government of Tuvalu derives about one-fourth of its revenues from returns on International Trust Fund investments what is the other major component of revenue for this island nation?

The other major component of revenue comes from leasing its highly fortuitous .tv Internet Top Level Domain (TLD) and from use of its area code for "900" line (premium rate telephone numbers)

October 17, 2006

founders of a successful web start-up.the pic below shows a cat pawing at a dangling string

Connect is YouTube. The pic shows founders of YouTube (Chad Hurley, Steven Chen and Jawed Karim from l to r). They were the employees of PayPal prior to starting this hugely successful startup which has now been taken over by Google.

Mrs. Sheela Mane, a 28-year-old housewife residing in flat on Charni Road is out in the balcony drying clothes. From her second floor flat she can see her neighbours on the road. There are other people too. The crowd seems to be growing larger by the minute. Unable to curb her curiosity Sheela Mane hurries down to see what all the commotion is about. She expects the worst but can see no signs of an accident. It is her four-year-old who draws her attention to the hoarding that has come up overnight. Something or rather someone was introduced to the world and People simply loved it.

What was it?

The Utterly Butterly girl (Amul Moppet).In 1966 Sylvester daCunha, then the managing director of the advertising agency, ASP, clinched the account for Amul butter. The Amul girl was created by "Eustace Fernandez (the art director) and Sylvester daCunha.

Q5. Whose print ads are these?

@ Ad 2 – a hoarding that’s put up in Pune. (an example of Curiosity Advertising). Name the brand.

ad 1 – Air India The occasion - celebrating 50 years of flying to Paris (Check it here)

ad 2 – Shark Tooth the indigenously developed vodka brand by Diageo

Q6. With a desire to apply the “Think Global Act Local” strategy this ex-IITian duo started their new venture targeting the local web user population. Their product uses Crawl Technology, a complex computing system that crawls the web identifying local content using sophisticated algorithms.

Identify this start up whose name is derived from ‘a person who provides guidance to other in times of need’.

As Baidu is to China Guruji is to India. The Indian search engine Guruji.com founded by Anurag Dod and Gaurav Mishra.

Q7 In 1941 George de Mestral while hiking with his dog along the alpine countryside was inspired by this natural phenomenon, he was prompt enough to appreciate it's engineering implications. After eight years of efforts he developed the product and a process that could deliver it consistently. The product is ubiqutous today and its name synonymous with its trademark that was derived from the French words 'crochet' and 'velours'.

Name the brand.

Velcro

Q8 Identify this business personality.

Carly Fiorina (ex President and CEO HP). She has recently released her book Tough Choices: A Memoir

Q9 ConnectiQ (the picture says it all)

The late Geoffrey Frost ex-Chief Marketing Officer Motorola and the person instrumental in reviving Brand Motorola. With WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather, Frost shaped the "Moto" campaign and the hugely successful line up of cell phones with four letter names - RAZR, PEBL, ROKR, CRZR, RIZR. The GFRY Design Studio (Geoffrey Frost Memorial) at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is a tribute to this marketing legend.

Q10 In 1783 Smith Kendon proprietor of a small London based firm produced the original recipe for this product. It was promoted as a 'stomach calmative' that would relieve intestinal discomfort (the products ads suggested that it could act as an antidote to the poisons in the stomach). This led to the start of the iconic "curiously strong" branding campaign that still defines the brand to this day.Identify the brand.